Concepts of keystone species and species importance in ecology

This paper discussed the keystone species concept and introduced the typical characteristics of keystone species and their identification in communities or ecosystems. Based on the research of the keystone species, the concept of species importance (SI) was first advanced in this paper. The species importance can be simply understood as the important value of species in the ecosystem, which consists of three indexes: species structural important value (SIV), functional important value (FIV) and dynamical important value (DIV). With the indexes, the evaluation was also made on species importance of arbor trees in the Three-Hardwood forests (Fraxinus mandshurica, Juglans mandshurica, and Phellodendron amurense) ecosystem.

Flora, life form characteristics, and plan for the promotion of biodiversity in South Korea＇s Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System, the traditional Gudeuljang irrigated rice terraces in Cheongsando

The objectives of this study were to analyze the biodiversity of the Traditional Gudeuljang Irrigated Rice Terraces in Cheongsando, South Korea's representative GIAHS(Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System) site, with reference to position and land-use features, and to develop a plan to promote agricultural biodiversity in the region. We confirmed approximately 54,000 m2 of Gudeuljang paddy fields by an on-site survey. Of the Traditional Gudeuljang Irrigated Rice Terraces confirmed by onsite inspection, our survey showed that approximately 24,000 m2 are currently being used as paddy fields, approximately 15,000 m2 are being used as dry fields, and approximately 14,000 m2 are fallow. In terms of other non-agricultural land use, there was grassland, including graveyards; artificial arboreal land, such as orchards, rivers and wetlands, and man-made facilities, such as roads and residences. We also confirmed that the Traditional Gudeuljang Irrigated Rice Terraces had higher plant species diversity than conventional terraced rice paddies, and there was a difference in life form characteristics between the two types. Although the superficial topsoil structure is thesame for the Traditional Gudeuljang Irrigated Rice Terraces(TGIRTs) and conventional terraced rice paddies, it is thought that the differences in the subsurface structure of the TGIRTs contribute greatly to species and habitat diversity. However, the TGIRTs in Cheongsando are facing degeneration, due to damage and reduction in agricultural activity. The main cause is the reduction in the number of farming households due to an aging population in Cheongsando. In order to address this problem, we proposed a management plan, related to fallow paddy fields in South Korea, to initiate voluntary activities in the TGIRTs.

A Methodology for Bridge Condition Evaluation

Due to the substantial role of bridges in transportation networks and in accordance with the limited funding for bridge management, remediation strategies have to be prioritised. A conservative bridge assessment will result in unnecessary actions, such as costly bridge strengthening or repairs. On the other hand, any bridge maintenance negligence and delayed actions may lead to heavy future costs or degraded assets. The accuracy of decisions developed by any manager or bridge engineer relies on the accuracy of the bridge condition assessment which emanates from visual inspection. Many bridge rating systems are based on a very subjective procedure and are associated with uncertainty and personal bias. The developing condition rating method described herein is an important step in adding more holism and objectivity to the current approaches. Structural importance and material vulnerability are the two main factors that should be considered in the evaluation of element structural index and the causal factor as the representative of age, environment, road class and inspection is implemented as a coefficient to the OSCI （overall structural condition index）. The AHP （analytical hierarchy process） has been applied to evaluate the priority vector of the causal parameters.

A robust and efficient structural reliability method combining radial-based importance sampling and Kriging

Simulation based structural reliability analysis suffers from a heavy computational burden, as each sample needs to be evaluated on the performance function, where structural analysis is performed. To alleviate the computational burden, related research focuses mainly on reduction of samples and application of surrogate model, which substitutes the performance function. However,the reduction of samples is achieved commonly at the expense of loss of robustness, and the construction of surrogate model is computationally expensive. In view of this, this paper presents a robust and efficient method in the same direction. The present method uses radial-based importance sampling (RBIS) to reduce samples without loss of robustness. Importantly, Kriging is fully used to efficiently implement RBIS. It not only serves as a surrogate to classify samples as we all know, but also guides the procedure to determine the optimal radius, with which RBIS would reduce samples to the highest degree. When used as a surrogate, Kriging is established through active learning, where the previously evaluated points to determine the optimal radius are reused. The robustness and efficiency of the present method are validated by five representative examples, where the present method is compared mainly with two fundamental reliability methods based on active learning Kriging.

The Structure of China＇s Imports： A New Framework

Using the elbow function method to determine the number of classification groups of goods and applying the K-means algorithm to classify technical goods, this paper constructs a scientific classification framework of commodity structure and then measures the changes in China ＂s import commodity structure. It is found, first, that from 2000 to 2012, the import commodity structure in China underwent structural change. Shares of non-agricultural primary products and high-technology products increased sigmficantly, whereas shares of low-medium-technology products and medium-high-technology products declined. Second, from 2000 to 2006, the overall technology level of China＇s imports declined, but then increased from 2007 to 2012. Therefore, the Chinese Government shouM increase the share of high-technology and extra- high-technology products in total imports to stimulate structural transformation in manufacturing industries to make full use of foreign advanced technology and to prevent stepping into a low-end import commodity structure.

Analysis of traffic safety in airport aircraft activity areas based on bayesian networks and fault trees

To assess road traffic safety risk in civil aviation airports and develop effective accident prevention measures,this study proposed a risk assessment method based on accident tree and Bayesian network for airport aircraft activity areas.It identified influencing factors in the aircraft activity area from the perspectives of person-vehicle-road-environment-management and analyzed their relationships.The Bayesian network was utilized to determine initial probabilities for each influencing factor.Findings indicated a relatively high overall safety level in the airport's road traffic system.Accident trees were employed to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze common human-vehicle accident patterns.The initial probabilities obtained from the Bayesian network served as basic event probabilities in the accident tree to determine the occurrence probability of the top event.Taking a 4F airport in China as an example,accident cause analysis identified five important risk sources in human-vehicle accidents,including blind spots for special vehicles,illegal driving by drivers,pedestrians violating regulations,passengers entering restricted areas,and blind spots at intersections.Corresponding safety management measures were formulated.The study concluded that the integration of Bayesian networks and accident trees effectively determines accident probabilities and offers specific solutions,thus playing a crucial role in enhancing road traffic safety management within aviation airports.